OBJECTIVE: To explore healthcare professionals' views about the benefits and challenges of using information technology (IT) resources for educating patients about their warfarin therapy. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of both community and hospital-based healthcare professionals (e.g., doctors, pharmacists and nurses) involved using a purpose-designed questionnaire. The questionnaires were distributed using a multi-modal approach to maximise response rates. RESULTS: Of the total 300 questionnaires distributed, 109 completed surveys were received (43...

BACKGROUND: HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) reduce the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in healthy people. Statins reduce levels of inflammation biomarkers; however, the mechanism for the reduction in VTE risk is unknown. AIM: In a large cohort of healthy people, we studied associations of statin use with plasma hemostatic factors related to VTE risk. METHODS: Cross-sectional analyses were performed in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a cohort study of 6814 healthy men and women aged 45-84 years, free of clinical cardiovascular disease at baseline; 1001 were using statins at baseline...

Warfarin is a widely used oral anticoagulant. It is highly efficacious for the treatment and prevention of thromboembolic disorders despite its narrow therapeutic window. Poor compliance with warfarin is common and a major contributor to poor anticoagulation control. A number of psychosocial issues (e.g. depressive symptoms, attitudinal and behavioral factors, cognitive function, lack of social support, limited English proficiency, health illiteracy) have been associated with warfarin non-compliance among patients in anticoagulation clinics...

OBJECTIVE: Warfarin is a medication commonly prescribed to prevent strokes associated with certain medical conditions such as atrial fibrillation; however, little is known about how people taking warfarin perceive the goal of therapy and how they describe strokes. We assessed the stroke-related health literacy of anticoagulated patients to inform ways in which to improve health communication among people taking warfarin. METHODS: We conducted a mixed-methods study of an ethnically and linguistically diverse sample of people taking warfarin to prevent stroke (N=183) and measured literacy using the short-form Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the results of the expanded National Venous Screening Program (NVSP) as administered by the American Venous Forum. METHODS: Eighty-three physicians across 40 states participated in screening Americans for venous disease. The NVSP instrument included demographics, venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessment, quality-of-life (QOL) assessment, duplex ultrasound scan for reflux and obstruction, and clinical inspection. Participants received educational materials and a report card to give their physician...

BACKGROUND: Ethnicity has been associated with variance in warfarin treatment regimens in various settings. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether ethnicity is associated with variance in patient management in Israel. METHODS: Data were extracted from the electronic patient records of Clalit Health Services clinics in the Sharon Shomron region. The study group comprised all patients treated with warfarin who performed international normalized ratio tests for at least 6 months in 2003...

BACKGROUND: Anticoagulation therapy with warfarin is widely considered the standard of care for stoke prophylaxis in patients with atrial fibrillation who are at high risk of stroke. Community-based studies in the US have reported that the effectiveness of anticoagulation varies by management approach and that patients receiving warfarin have international normalised ratio (INR) values within the target therapeutic range less than half the time. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the lifetime societal costs and health benefits of warfarin therapy to prevent strokes, specifically in elderly patients (mean age 70 years) with atrial fibrillation who are at high risk of stroke, when anticoagulation is managed through usual care versus anticoagulation management services, where dedicated anticoagulation professionals (e...

BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: Patients with mechanical heart valves must follow lifelong warfarin therapy. Warfarin, however, is a difficult drug to manage because it has a narrow therapeutic window and potentially serious side effects. Successful anticoagulation treatment is dependent upon the patient's knowledge of this drug; however, little is known regarding the determinants of such knowledge. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the influence of both in-hospital teaching practices as well as socioeconomic status and demographic variables on patients' knowledge of warfarin therapy...

To investigate whether knowledge and perceptions of antithrombotic therapy differ between ethnic groups in the UK, we conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of patients attending anticoagulation clinics in three Birmingham teaching hospitals. 180 consecutive patients were recruited-135 white European, 29 Indo-Asian, 16 Afro-Caribbean. The average knowledge score was 5.5 out of 9, with no significant differences between the groups. Indo-Asians were significantly less likely than the other groups to know the name of the anticoagulant they were taking (warfarin) and Afro-Caribbeans to know the condition for which they were being anticoagulated...